“Beat the Champ is about professional wrestling, which was an avenue of escape for me when I was a kid. Wrestling was low-budget working class entertainment back then, strictly UHF material. It was cheap theater. You had to bring your imagination to the proceedings and you got paid back double. I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I'm grown.”
— John Darnielle, Durham, NC
Tracklist
Southwestern Territory (4:14)
The Legend of Chavo Guerrero (3:00)
Foreign Object (2:52)
Animal Mask (2:55)
Choked Out (1:43)
Heel Turn 2 (5:58)
Fire Editorial (3:23)
Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan (3:49)
Werewolf Gimmick (2:35)
Luna (3:28)
Unmasked! (3:29)
The Ballad of Bull Ramos (2:53)
Hair Match (5:41)
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